Cesar and his crew did a great job in replacing five faulty irrigation valves. With Cesar's years of experience, he knew exactly what was wrong and how to fix it. I've had others try to correct the problem only to have it fail over and over again. I highly recommend Cesar's Landscaping services. read more

So back during the summer, I had some technical problems with my sprinkler (NO! It wasn't user error damnit! well...at least not THIS time) and without water, my lawn died on me in the sweltering 100+ degree weather. So now, being stuck with a broken sprinkler system and a dead lawn, I call up a few contractors to get some estimates to determine just how much I will need to spend to get my sprinklers back up and working and my lawn good as new. Out of all the contractors I called, Cesar Rivas at Rivas Landscaping definitely gave me the best offer. He determined that I had a faulty sprinkler valve that needed replacing, and also stated he would replace the plastic sprinkler head with a metal copper one for a better seal. And if I decided to replace my lawn with him too, he would also trim my bushes (which were getting wayyyyyy too overgrown) for me as well. Fantastic! Cesar stated he would be able to get started on the lawn the very next day so I went ahead and setup an appointment with him and low and behold...he and his crew arrived the next day and started work. After all was said and done, everything looked great except........ he didn't have a receipt for me, my bushes were not trimmed at all as he had promised and my sprinklers wouldn't turn off! He stated that not to worry. He wasn't able to give me a receipt at that time because he (conveniently) forgot his receipt book, and that he couldn't trim the bushes as he offered originally because he forgot to bring the trimmer with him. Then he stated that he needed to head off to Sacramento to take care of another job today but would spring back around to my house later that evening to take a look at it and in the meantime I should just turn the water off. And that he would also e-mail me over a copy of the receipt when he got home. I informed Cesar that I was going to be out of town for a couple of weeks but I would leave the sprinkler system on and the water valve (located outside my house) turned off so he could still test the system without me being at home. I called him the next day and he assured me he stopped by my house and that everything was ok. Well low and behold I return home a week and a half later, the sprinklers were exactly as I left them. Eternally on and not shutting off. I called up Cesar who said he would swing by the house in a couple of days to check it out. I had to go out of town again for about a week and called Cesar once again about 4 days later and he assured me once again that he did indeed come by the house, check it out, and the system was fine. When I returned that Sunday, I was gravely disappointed when I found out my sprinkler system was still on and that my bushes were still not trimmed! So now its been almost 3 weeks since he initially promised he that he would take care of the things he stated he would do and nothing had been done yet, and I was absolutely furious! I called him up (yes on a Sunday) and stated he that I was back home and he needed to come down TODAY to fix my damn sprinklers (I didn't want to have my new lawn that I just put in die on me again because this guy can't come through with his promises). He finally reluctantly agreed and swung down a couple of hours later. Took a look at the system and in 5mins determined that one of the valves was just stuck in the On position and turned it back to Automatic. 5 FREAKING MINUTES! That proves to me he never even bothered coming down in the first place! So far he's broken 3 of his promises and lied to me at least twice. Fine! Now so my sprinkler system is working....now about my bushes that he promised me he would trim that are now blocking my walkway and that receipt he never e-mailed me..... He once again stated he would take care of the bushes on Monday and that he would e-mail the receipts to me. And also stated if I needed regular maintenance that he performed that service as well for $50/month. Despite everything I told him I would give him the benefit of the doubt and consider his future services but in the meantime I really needed to have my bushes trimmed like he promised because I was showing my house to a potential renter that weekend. He assured me once again that it would be done by Monday. Well guess what.....Monday rolls around and nothing. I try calling him again on Tuesday and only get his voicemail this time and no call back (what a surprise!). I wind up being rather embarrassed, having to show my house to potential renters with the bushes growing all over my walkway and them having to step through my lawn just to get to my front door! And as of yet I have still yet to receive a receipt showing his promised warranty on his service and parts. I'll give this guy +1 star for being friendly and being very competitively priced. But that's about as good as it gets...... read more

Reading the review before mine, I couldn't help but share my similar experience with Rivas Landscaping, particularly Cesar and ALL is broken promises, commitments and poor work ethic. I was foolish enough to not only use this guy once...but twice! Like the prior writer, I thought I would give another shot, BECAUSE he was so willing to do the job! It was all YES, YES, YES!!!!! Yes, his charm and laid back "no problem" attitude, while in the "honeymoon" stage was great. The business partnership and inevitable divorce was just moments away after I paid, on his terms, in full, in CASH and on time!!!! What a joke! This guy gives nothing but broken promises and delivers poor, inconsistent, untimely, unprofessional work at best...I spent 1000s on my backyard landscape with him. If there was an option for NO stars, I would do it! He never returns calls, when he does he never does what he says he is going to do. He never shows up when he says he will, he blames everything on the customer. Everything that went wrong that was reported within weeks of him finally finishing my yard was ALWAYS someone else's fault but HIS! I specifically asked what would happen if any new plants didnt make it or died...his response.."Oh, don't worry, I will guarantee everything at least through summer". Well guess what over 15 plants have died...and guess what, it is my fault, because some of those type plants cant stand the heat...funny, then how come others of the same kind did fine? Why did he knowingly plant them if he knew they couldn't tolerate the sun/heat...isn't that his job to know such things! Of course, reporting anything to him is a joke, because he never calls you back, or shows up when he says he will, so this has been dragging on for months. So right now I have dead plants that I will have to replace and re-plant MYSELF or pay someone else to do it, because he just WONT respond anymore! This isn't even half of it....many plants that died were not getting water via the "drip system" he installed....that was my fault too! Turns out no drip was placed near the plants. Wish I could post pictures! Moving on....he put in some flagstone in my yard, the method was HIS idea, sounded good and initially looked good! He says he used gater dust as a cement agent...well, so much for his talent there, a good portion of it was never installed correctly and started lifting weeks after it was installed...turns out the only thing holding it down was SAND! appears the rain washed it all out...again, my FAULT!!! Because of the slope of ground which HE failed to level, the rain wouldn't drain properly! Hmmmmm....couldn't be the sand, could it???? He did and said everything he could to push blame to anyone but himself. And was even irritated that I called him with yet another issue! Wow! There's more....weeds everywhere.....one huge area wasn't even treated for weeds or prepped for planting and ground cover. A very rocky, heavily weeded area should have prepped for weeds with new top soil..wrong again! He laid that black fabric over it, then planted in all the rocks and weeds and then threw tan bark over it!!! No wonder his rates are competitive, he doesn't do anything the right way!!!! Buyer beware with this guy...DO NOT be fooled! Not only do you NOT get what you pay for, it's worse because you have spend every week trying to track him down to resolve things. Obviously I failed miserably, because I have just given up. As of this writing, he STILL has not made good on the scope of work we agreed to. He was paid on time, on his terms....all he had to do was delivier what he promised! read more

Cesar and his crew just removed my old dying lawn, hauled it away and installed new sod in three days at my house in Auburn. He also removed a cherry blossom tree from the front yard. We were lucky to remove the tree as it's roots had grown in the drain pipe below it. He replaced the section of pipe at no cost. His prices were very reasonable !! I'm very happy camper !!! read more

They did an awful job at concrete. I was assured they were experienced but the guy was rude and flat out giving me bad information. Didn't properly tamper the base, barely used any base to begin with, and was giving lip when i was questioning it. They don't know what they are doing when it comes to concrete. Please never hire Rivas for a concrete job. They think pouring concrete is as simple as that, just pouring it. Bad prep and horrible aftercare. It's going to start cracking soon and I'm going to have to spend tons of money jack hammering it and getting it done right. read more

We recently had Cesar come out and give us a quote to do our concrete work and we were really happy that we decided to go with him. We had an idea in our head of what we wanted to do for our RV side access, and he was able to make it a reality. They got it done really quickly, just in time for the rain. Not only does it look great, but he went above and beyond in a lot of ways to make sure we were happy. We're now considering having him come do our lawn maintenance as well, because of his attention to detail. read more

In Favor to Ceasar, Ceasar has three of my residencial properties and in the beginning things flowed nicely, as time went on there was lack of communication on the condition of the plants. I was pissed and made it clear to Ceasar why. Now, I think its important to bring to everyones attention that Ceasar's contract is for my three properties for $240.00 per month. Now that means 80.00 per property per month. That means everytime his TWO guys comes to one of the house's he makes $20.00 and out of that $20.00 goes wages, lawn mower gas, vehicle gas to get there, taxes, liability insurance, workers compensation and then hopefully a profit. So with that all in mind I thought it fair to take the time out, have a face to face and communicate to Ceasar were and specifically were my issues are. We did just that and frankly I was not planning on keeping him. As it turned out we walked the property I made sudjestions and of course pointed out areas of neglect and he recepicated in being honest about what he is up against. In short we are going to give it another go with our sights on improved future communication. Short of the long I believe that Ceasar can see his short comings (we all have them) and I believe he wants to do different. We shall see, but is it not better for us as individuals, to raise another's staus rather than lower it. If my motive is to bring about change in another individual, and if it is true that I myself change for those I like more than those I do not like?Then I guess first I need to be a nice person. The change seems to start with my attitude. Lets help those that are willing to help themselves, at least a second chance. That way they themselves may do what we all intend to do when we wake up...a good job for today. Thank you all, lets go out in this crazy ass world and be just a little nicer, shoot we might find others were just waiting for someone to start. :)) Michael R. McClellan 650-269-1930 read more

Very unprofessional , lack of customer service , terrible with communication and makes the customer feels like your doing him a favor with hiring them . I wouldnt waste my time with any buisness who shows such lack of appreciation for EARNING my buisness or anyone elses read more

Good work! Always answered my calls and promised too do all the work in a certain amount of time and he did get it done also he charges very little for the hard work he puts in. No problems but with drip system interface (which was my fault). I would recommend! read more

So after dealing with Ceaser I felt the need to actually do a write up as well... I had called him out to give me a quote to re sod my yard front and back. Well he was 15 minutes late and had given up on him. Just then I get a call saying he will be another 15-20 minutes. Fine he wasted my time I'll let him waste his time coming out here. When he gets here no real conversation just okay front and backyard needs sod. He then says okay I'll take some measurements and give you a call. I'm thinking okay he'll knock on my door. That's fine, that's what the other guy did earlier. So I'm sitting in my kitchen look out to see him measuring. OMG... he is just taking big steps to measure my lawn. Really?! spends no more than maybe minutes "measuring" my back yard and front yard, then gets in his truck gets on his cell phone and then drives away. I guess he really meant he would call. Who knew? He is the 3rd guy I've had out here this week and by far the worst person ever! Calls late, shows up late, walks to measure... Please people don't use this guy! I don't even care about his quote at this point. There is no way I would hire this guy to do any type of work for me! read more

He came and was very professional and repaired my whole drip system and installed drips on my potted plants. Have hired him to do landscaping in my front yard next week. read more

very professional, great communication skills! he's very busy but ended up finding time to give me a quick & informing estimate. i don't understand some of the reviews they don't add up to the BOSS i met but seems he wants the best for his costumers and i understand some prices might be pricey but it's for the best quality i ended up getting a beautiful yard! read more